It seems to me that I saw a USDA publication recently where vinegar was recommended as a good, all-purpose herbicide! Jim McKenney jimmckenney@starpower.net who is wondering if sour grapes are better than dead seedlings At 10:02 AM 1/31/2004 -0800, you wrote: >Dear Diana, > >I remembered that Will Ashburner had a system for killing these he posted a >number of years ago so I looked for it in my archives and found it. (from >October 1997). I haven't heard from Will in awhile, but I am sure he'd be >be willing to let me share what he wrote in two messages about what to do. >I have also seen listed in various catalogs of companies that sell products >that are supposedly more environmental friendly sprays. So if you are >interested in those resources too let me know. I don't think Will ever >wrote a follow-up, year down the road post on this. Let us know if it works >for you. > >Mary Sue >"Dear all, > >Last year Fausto asked if the Robin had any ideas how to control Moss and >Liverwort on the tops of Pots. > >I made a few suggestions one of which was Vinegar which I hadn't tried on >bulbs. Well I have now. Vinegar works I think because it lowers the ph of >the media which mosses and liverworts don't like. The dilution is 1 to 4 >of the cheapest vinegar you can find. > >Well the results. I had a little problem with mainly mosses growing on the >punnets of first year seedlings. It happened because I decided to change >my technique, normally I would cover the seedlings with coarse sand (grit) >which inhibits the growth. This year at sowing time I didn't have any >available till later and have since found how useful the sand is as an >inhibitor. I decided to do a test with the vinegar and found it did a >marvellous job of killing the moss. It should be applied on a sunny day, >for some reason it is not as affective in shady spots. > >I didn't do all my seedlings but have found that some weren't too happy. > The Alstroemeria were burnt off, they have since recovered and some >others seem to have gone into dormancy prematurely. It is hard to know if >they were going dormant any way. The only link with the others that seemed >to be adversely affected was that they were hairy leaved South Africans. > >If the group would like more information I could check the labels and list >them in another posting. > >Dear Joyce and all, > >During my couple of days of last week I spent a bit of time with my bulbs >and assessed the effects of the Vinegar drench I imposed on the 1 year old >seedlings. > >I mentioned that I thought it had caused some hairy South Africans to go >into early dormancy, I am not so sure now and think it was natural. > >The rest of the pots were also treated with vinegar, this time I filled up >a small 1/2 litre hand sprayer and just sprayed the tops of the pots on the >morning of a sunny day. By the next day the mosses and liverworts were >going brown. This technique means that you can miss a few patches but >unlike drenching you only need a small amount of the 25% vinegar mix. > >The only genera that has adversely effected has been Alstroemeria. This >year I have an extraordinary wide range of bulbous species from Albuca to >Xerophyta and all in between, I haven't treated any South African >amaryllids in this way. > >I have done some treatments to pots in the shade but haven't assessed them >yet. > >All the best > >Will Ashburner" > >_______________________________________________ >pbs mailing list >pbs@lists.ibiblio.org >http://www.pacificbulbsociety.org/list.php >